Introducing Matt Henderson

From the day I started working at OilersNation I came in with the goal of trying to produce the best Oilers content on the Internetz. After realizing that I can neither write nor produce top level content, I quickly figured out that I would have to do some digging around for writers to add to our already stellar lineup. Today, we take another step towards that goal. Today, we are proud to introduce Matt Henderson as the newest OilersNation writer. Who the hell is Matt Henderson? Let’s find out.

Before handing Matt the keys to dad’s van, I made sure to sit down with him and ask a few questions. I wanted to know what drives this person to write about such an awful team, and will he use his hockey related rage to stab me in the future. Here’s part of that conversation:

Baggedmilk: Who are you, and what are you doing here?

Matt Henderson: My name is Matt Henderson and judging by the fact that I woke up in this empty room with a laptop shackled to my wrist I gather I’m going to be writing for OilersNation for the foreseeable future.

BM: When and how did you first discover OilersNation?

MH: The site wasn’t that old when I first discovered it. I had been commenting on Sportsnet and TSN articles mostly and looking for a place to regularly show up and hash things out with other Oiler fans. I checked my account and it says I signed up in 2009 but the site was around before then and I was here in the comments section. I’d say you could probably load up any article from 2 or more years ago and you can see me hashing out thoughts with guys like David S., The Towel Boy, or Ender The Dragon. Those were some crazy days.

BM: You love writing about the Oilers, are you some kinda sucker or something?

MH: Obviously I have some kind of brain damage, but it only affects the part of my noggin that adjusts expectations based on prior results. I do love writing and talking about the Oilers though. I just wish that we weren’t Charlie Brown with the football every single year.

BM: What would you say is your area of expertise?

MH: My area of expertise is actually Late British Iron Age/Early Roman Iconography and culture change, though I also have experience with coastal Ecuadorian archaeology too. As far as Hockey goes I don’t know if I have a real area of expertise. I am keenly interested in the practical applications and stories that fancy stats can provide, but I also love Hockey Fights and believe in momentum. I like logical and evidence based arguments but there’s always room for character and grit in a story too.

BM: What can readers expect from you?

MH: As far as expectations go, I think you can expect me to be sarcastic and opinionated. I’d like to think that I use evidence to back up my points and some halfway decent logic, but you can also expect me to get a little emotional too. I’m all over the place. This is the mind of an Oilers writer with losing shellshock. It gets weird sometimes.

BM: Will you bail me out of jail? It’s part of the job, you know.

MH: Listen. If you just unlock these shackles I wont even report you to the police.

BM: What is one thing you would change about the Oilers if you could change anything at all?

MH: I would find a way to get ahold of a top tier Defenseman. It’s the team’s biggest hole. They’ve fired enough coaches to prove coaching isn’t the issue. They’ve drafted enough forwards to ice a semi competent top 6. Goalies are generally available for less than top dollar. 30 minute a night Defensemen are impossible to find. If I could magic genie that one for them I think the Oilers would be well on their way.

BM: Where can people find you?

MH: I think the car ride was maybe 40 minutes and we definitely went over some train tracks. There was a short gravel road section near the end. If someone can ping my cell phone then I’m hoping I can be found soon.

For Oiler stuff you can find me at HockeyBuzz.com where I am one of the main Oilers writers and obviously now here at OilersNation.com as well. I try to avoid my family and other obligations by interacting in the comments sections all the time. I am also pretty much always on Twitter and you can find me there @Archaeologuy.

SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

What changes? Nothing! What do you mean “what now?” Stupid graphic. All this means is that you’ll have more fresh content to read on a daily basis at OilersNation. Adding Matt to our roster will bring more analysis and opinion pieces on what is happening with this garbage fire of a team that we somehow love.

Please take a minute to welcome Matt, ask him questions, and pick his brain. He’s a good dude, and I think you guys are going to appreciate what he brings to the table.

Sorry off topic BUT…does anyone recall when Tyler Seguin was made available by Boston were the Oilers sniffing around and if so what was Boston looking for out of the Oilers in return..thank you and try and have an above average day.

Sorry for the misspelling. Joe Haggarty i believe. Sounds like something this “Braintrust” would do. 1 beer kills three brain cells and watching this disaster unfold has claimed many more than three.
Let us know what you find.

At the 2010 draft Tambellini had breakfast with Chiarelli the morning of the draft. One last effort was made to secure that selection by the Oilers. Oilersnation had Brownlee and Gregor at the draft that summer but can’t remember who laid that one out for us.

IIRC Steve passed on the Eberle and Hemsky for that second overall selection. Would have been an optimal start to the rebuild in hindsight. Not making that tough decision has a lot to do with this turning into an infinibuild. 99.9% of this board agreed with Steves decision that day.

They obviously hired you due to your 24/7 contact with Klowe and MacT, can you text them and ask them when they are planning on addressing the mob with pitchforks and torches that are romaing around Edmonton looking for them?

Hi BM, can you and Wanye look into adding a Scoreboard and Box Score type of thing to the site? I’m sick and tired of the changes with the TSN site and hate searching for the scores on there now. And don’t even get me started with Sportsnet!! It would be cool if it was visible on the main page at all times when a game is one. So for those following a GDB they don;t have to click on a link or go check another site for a score and the boxcars. Spanks!!

how hard is it to trade average players from mediocre teams!? i woke up to see this perron / anisimov trade speculation this morning. it’s almost noon…is it that difficult to say yes we want the player, no we don’t want the player? Is there just nothing better to talk about than fabricating trades between bad hockey teams?

i’d like it to happen too, but if it’s real, why hasn’t it happened? if both teams want the trade, and neither player can block it, what’s the hold up? do they not how how to dial out on the fax machine?

To give you perspective, when Col traded Steve Downie to Phi for Max Talbot the parties involved indicated they had been talking about the trade for ~ 3 weeks.

On the otherhand, some trade talks are completed in a morning.

I suspect the process isn’t much different than your average fantasy hockey league. Some GMs talk to everyone, have a million or so possible trades on the go at any one time and bicker and/or waffle on every decision. Others just say sure let’s do it.

I keep reading and hearing Perron for Anisimov.i don’t know much about him,but isn’t he always injured?and would you trade a 10th overall pick and a 30-40 overall pick for him?because that was the price paid to get Perron.a player capable of 30/30 and causing pure havoc doing it,should fetch a little more than Anisimov,no?just seems to me like the Oilers usually get fleeced when they make trades,and are always downgrading assets.maybe I’m just worried that this management group is going to be allowed to make the Oilers pie look nicer,by sticking their fingers in it some more.the Oilers don’t have that many assets left before the big name players,and Perron is one of those assets.if this trade goes as badly as say Stoll/Greene for Visnovsky trade has,then the Oilers could do a serious amount of damage to the teams future.believe it or not,this could still get worse,before it gets better.this management team reminds me of what Maccocia did to the Eskimos.

Nice addition to the team. I usually agree with archeaologuy… even when he’s wrong. I think we both still sit alone in the dark and think about how awesome Sam would have been that season if only Kassian hadn’t done that thing.